Jan 3 What do Red Teams do? | Foreign Policy

After the 9/11 attacks, every U.S. intelligence agency was mandated to have a Red Team -- an alternative analysis component -- so that people in the government could imagine the unthinkable. The CENTCOM unit was established in April 2006 following an order by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, with a charter to provide the CENTCOM commander, leadership, and staff with alternative viewpoints, challenge common assumptions, and anticipate unintended consequences of events and actions.